The Alpine Desert  – Day 3 Kilimanjaro

(Below: Andrew’s Post)

 We woke to bright skies and a refreshing morning breeze on the mountain. The storm clouds we’d been trudging through the previous day had all vanished leaving clean blue above us. We organized our things prior to breakfast and left some of our gear out to dry in the sun before heading to the mess hall to eat. Molly was already in there chatting about her summit schedule with her guide and Kylie and I sat down to a warm bowl of porridge and a cup of tea (hot chocolate). Unfortunately, we had left our lunches sitting outside in the lunch boxes and the Ravens had first go at our food for the day. Wasn’t the best start to the day, but they only got the crackers and chicken leaving most everything else untouched. As we began hiking Kylie was worried the fog would roll in obscuring our view of Kilimanjaro’s summit. We were very fortunate and skies remained clear and blue for most of our hike up the mountain. All along the way Abdul and Allen shared things about the mountain, the names of indigenous species of plants as well as things like the porters work schedule. The climb was steady and easy with smooth rolling hills. It wasn’t until midday that the climb gained some altitude as we made a final approach of Kibo hut, or base camp. At this point I started to feel the first signs of altitude sickness. My stomach started to feel a little queazy and my breathing came with a little more difficulty. 4700 meters is nothing to laugh about. We gathered up our gear, tried to relax, and set in for the night. 

Welcome to the Kilimanjaro shower… They call it “washy-washy”time.